FGFs, including acidic fibroblast growth factor ("aFGF") and basic fibroblast growth factor ("bFGF"), are known to have heparin-binding properties and have the ability to induce the differentiation and proliferation of ventral, as well as dorsal, mesoderm in early blastulae, as discussed in Gospodarowicz et al., Cell. Biol. Rev. 25:307-314 (1991), and Basilico et al, Adv. Cancer Res. 59:115-165 (1992). The response of cells to FGF is mediated through binding thereof to cell surface receptors known as fibroblast growth factor receptors ("FGFRs"), of which there are three inter-related types, as discussed in Hou et al, Science 251:665-668 (1991). High affinity FGFRs are tyrosine kinases and include the flg receptor ("FGFR-1"), the bek receptor ("FGFR-2"), and the K Sam receptor ("FGFR-3"), as discussed in Lee et al., Science 245:57-60 (1989); Dionne et al., EMBO J. 9:2685-2692 (1990); Miki et al., Science 251:72-75 (1991); Miki et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:246-250 (1992); and Dell et al., J. Biol. Chem. 267:21225-21229 (1992).
Both FGFR-1 and FGFR-2 are widely expressed in mesodermal and neuroectodermal tissues, and both are able to bind aFGF and bFGF with similar affinities. FGFR-3, also referred to as KGFR, is a KGF receptor that is specific to epithelial cells. It is an alternative transcript of FGFR-2. In contrast to FGFR-2, which shows high affinity for both aFGF and bFGF and no affinity for KGF, FGFR-3 binds KGF and aFGF with an affinity approximately 20 to 1000 fold higher than bFGF, as discussed in Miki et al. (1992), and Dell et al. (1992), loc. cit.
The tightly restricted tissue distribution of KGFR to epithelial cells and, therefore, the tissue restricted activity of KGF, is desirable in many types of wound healing applications, as well as in the treatment of hyperproliferative diseases of the epidermis, such as psoriasis and basal cell carcinoma. Presently, except for KGF, no highly suitable factor exists for these applications. It would be desirable, therefore, if KGF could be modified to increase its potency and decrease its cytotoxicity for therapeutic applications.
Recently, Ron et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:2984-2988 (February 1993) found that when KGF.sub.163 was expressed in a prokaryotic expression system, a recombinant KGF ("rKGF") polypeptide could be obtained that possessed mitogenic activity. When the rKGF molecule was truncated by deletion of 3, 8, 27, 38, and 48 amino acid residues from the N-terminus of the mature KGF.sub.163 polypeptide, biological activity of the resulting molecules varied. With deletion of 3 and 8 amino acid residues, respectively, the mitogenic activity of the resulting molecules did not appear to be affected as compared to full-length rKGF. Deletion of 27 amino acid residues, however, resulted in molecules that display 10-20 fold reduced mitogenic activity. Deletion of 38 and 48 amino acid residues, respectively, resulted in complete loss of mitogenic activity and heparin-binding ability. Ron et al., however, failed to produce any truncated rKGF fragments that possessed increased mitogenic activity as compared to the full-length rKGF molecule.